Chapter 339 The British delegation arrived. On
February 3, 1913, the Australasian Military Service Act was officially promulgated.
The Military Service Law stipulates that all legal male citizens who are over 18 years old and under 30 years old, except students, medical workers, scientific researchers, educators and other important fields, must participate in militarized training twice a year.
Theoretically speaking, annual militarized training is basically carried out in July and October, each lasting half a month.
In this half-month military training, everything from formation training to marksmanship training was involved.
Although trained people will not be trained into qualified soldiers in a short period of time, at least compared to civilians without any training, these people who have participated in militarized training can quickly become qualified soldiers. .
For the current Australasia, Arthur will not mobilize millions of troops with great fanfare.
Not only would this harm the country's development potential, a large military would also be a burden on the government's finances.
But there is no other way. Having sufficient reserves is also a trump card and means to ensure national security.
In an era when other great powers have hundreds of thousands of standing troops and millions of reserve troops, if the number of Australasian troops is too small, how can Australasia's homeland security be guaranteed?
Even if the security of the mainland can be guaranteed, all colonies and territories outside the mainland, as well as Australasia's external influence and status, will require sufficient military strength to maintain it.
Although in Arthur's estimation, Australasia has successfully reached great power status in terms of industry, economy and military.
But even among the great powers, there is a huge gap between them. The great power status that Australasia has achieved is no more than a great power gatekeeper like lower powers like Italy.
They appear to be great powers, but compared to the top powers such as Britain, France and Germany, both Australasia are incomparable.
The enactment of the Military Service Act met with little opposition in Australasia.
In fact, this is normal. After all, anyone participating in military training can receive a salary equivalent to the per capita annual income at that time.
And they don't have to worry about losing their jobs because of participating in military training.
If a company really fires employees because of such an excuse, then don't worry, the Australasian government and the royal family will find justice for the employees.
In fact, from the militarized training time in Australasia, it can be seen that the government has already anticipated such a thing.
In most areas of Australasia, January to June is the busy farming period, which is also the stage for planting wheat and other food crops.
July to October is the growth stage of wheat and also the slack period. For Australasian farmers and pastoralists, there was plenty of spare time during this period for militarized training.
November to December is the harvesting stage of wheat, and this period has entered the busy farming stage.
Therefore, the Ministry of National Defense deliberately places the annual militarized training in July and October, which are relatively close.
The time from August to September happens to be the shearing stage of sheep, which also makes the military training time in Australasia almost perfectly miss the busy farming and herding time.
As for the financial burden that annual militarized training brings to the Ministry of National Defense, Minister Raul gave a rough figure after calculation, which is about 6 million Australian dollars.
Among them, there are about 1 million Australasian male citizens who are over 18 years old and under 30 years old.
Excluding students and some more important positions, the number of people participating in military training every year is approximately 800,000.
A total of two military trainings means that these 800,000 people will be provided with one month's salary, which is approximately 4.2 Australian dollars per person, for a total of 3.31 million Australian dollars.
Although 800,000 people participate in training, this does not mean that the government will provide weapons for all 800,000 people.
In fact, the training can be carried out completely separately. These 800,000 people only need to provide about 100,000 to 200,000 rifles, so that everyone can consume dozens of rounds of bullets to get a feel for it during the militarized training period.
All the various expenses were added up, and Minister Raul gave a rough figure, which is about 6 million Australian dollars.
This funding is not too high for the Department of Defense and is affordable.
Of course, Arthur represented the royal family and could not take any action, so he directly stated that the royal family would bear all the salaries of those who received military training.
Calculated in this way, the royal family will bear more than 3 million Australian dollars and the government will bear about 3 million Australian dollars for annual military training in a short period of time.
For the Ministry of National Defense, this year’s new military budget increase does not stop there.
The first was Arthur's report on plans to expand the number of colonial divisions. Arthur required that there should be 15 colonial divisions by 1915 and that they should have certain combat capabilities.
And 1915 is only two years away from now, which also means that the expansion of the Colonial Division is imminent, and the time left for Minister Raul to formulate an expansion plan is basically running out.
Fortunately, although the number of soldiers in a colonial division is as high as 20,000, all the soldiers and most of the low-level officers are composed of local indigenous people.
This also means that as long as there are enough indigenous people, 15 colonial divisions can be expanded in a short period of time to complete the tasks assigned by Arthur.
300,000 indigenous people are not a big problem for the current Australasia. There are millions of stateless indigenous people in the country. These people are potential sources of indigenous soldiers.
On February 17, 1913, the Ministry of National Defense’s military expansion announcement was officially released to the public.
Unfortunately, this military expansion announcement is destined to disappoint many people, because it is only an announcement about expanding the number of colonial divisions.
According to the plan given by the Ministry of Defense, Australasia will expand six colonial divisions this year and five colonial divisions next year.
With these 11 newly expanded colonial divisions, plus the four previous colonial divisions, Australasia will officially have up to 15 colonial divisions and nearly 300,000 indigenous soldiers.
The good news is that Australasia has two colonial garrison regiments in addition to its original four colonial divisions.
These two garrison regiments can fully undertake the defense work of several colonies after the colonial division is allocated.
In the expansion plan of the Ministry of Defense, all officers above the company level in the colonial period were Australasians.
The officers below the company adopted the policy of being partly Australasian and partly trained Aboriginal officers.
As a result, the number of Australasian officers needed will plummet. After all, there are not many middle- and upper-class officers.
Judging from the current training progress of the two major military academies, there will be no problem in equipping these 15 colonial divisions with Australasian officers within two years. As for the training of indigenous officers, the Melbourne Military College is sufficient. After all, the colonial division sounded nice, but it was actually the cannon fodder Arthur prepared for future European wars.
The combat prowess of these people is actually not important. They can use weapons and follow orders enough.
Of course, in order to make these natives obedient, some necessary measures must be taken. For example, control their families and tribes, and differentiate their treatment from ordinary indigenous people, so that they are naturally in opposition to ordinary indigenous people, etc.
Anyway, as long as their families and tribes are under the control of Australasia, and equipped with a certain supervision team, Arthur believes that these natives will be obedient.
The successive promulgations of the Military Service Act and the military expansion plan also made the Ministry of Defense the busiest cabinet department in Australasia in February.
Different from the previous expansion of the army, this time the expansion of the army selects indigenous soldiers, so it is necessary to go to their locations or gathering places and select indigenous people with families, or at least families and relatives, to join the colonial division. of preparation.
As a native without family and family, Arthur would not feel at ease using it. Only by holding their weakness in one's own hands can the absolute loyalty of these natives to Australasia be ensured.
While the Ministry of Defense was busy selecting Aboriginal soldiers, the Australasian government also welcomed an extremely important guest, the British visiting team.
February 21, 1913, Sydney Harbour.
As soon as the fleet flying the flag of the British Empire arrived at Sydney Harbor, it was welcomed by crowds and processes on the port.
Prime Minister Kent stepped forward with a smile and shook hands with British Foreign Secretary Gray, the representative of the British visiting team.
"Minister Gray, welcome to Australasia!"
"Prime Minister Kent, long time no see." Gray also said with a smile.
In fact, most of Arthur's current confidants are the old Duke Arthur's men, that is, the British who followed Arthur to Australasia at that time.
As for Prime Minister Kent, he had known Gray since they were in England, and the two were considered friends.
"Prime Minister Kent, when can I see His Majesty Arthur?" After the two teams got to know each other, Gray looked at Kent expectantly and asked impatiently.
Germany's current pressure on Britain and France is already so great that the proud British have to find additional allies.
"Minister Gray, according to His Majesty's arrangement, Your Majesty will summon you tomorrow if you are willing." Prime Minister Kent said with a smile.
"Of course, Prime Minister Kent. Let's set it for tomorrow. I haven't seen His Majesty Arthur for a long time since our last farewell in the UK." British Foreign Secretary Gray nodded repeatedly and had no idea about Prime Minister Kent's arrangements. Any objection.
In fact, British Foreign Secretary Gray's attitude in Australasia is much better than that in other small and medium-sized European countries.
Even for Italy, which is also a great power, Gray may not have such a good attitude.
This is actually quite normal. After all, the monarch of Australasia is Arthur, a ruler who came from the British royal family.
Disrespecting Arthur is actually equivalent to disrespecting the British royal family and the late Queen Victoria.
Not to mention Foreign Minister Gray, even the last British King Edward VII clearly had a bad relationship with Arthur, but he still had to pretend to have a good uncle-nephew relationship with Arthur.
Especially under the premise that Arthur has a great status in the hearts of the British, if he does not give Arthur face, it is equivalent to making fun of his own political career.
Whether it was Australasia's important geographical location and good strength, or the close relationship between Arthur and the British royal family, Gray's respectful attitude in Australasia was determined.
Prime Minister Kent prepared the most luxurious hotel in Sydney for the British visiting team, Gray's Room, which even claimed to cost hundreds of Australian dollars for a day's stay.
This also means that an Australasian who has worked hard for two years without eating, drinking or spending anything can only earn enough money to stay in Gray's room for two days.
Of course, the Victoria Royal Hotel where Gray lives is not a place that ordinary people can live in.
As the most luxurious hotel with the most complete facilities in Sydney and even in Australasia, the Victoria Royal Hotel is only open to important people at home and abroad. Even capitalists with a net worth of millions are not allowed to stay there without connections.
The main purpose of building this Victoria Royal Hotel, which was built a few years ago, is to accommodate the most expensive foreign guests.
Generally, they are relatively close members of the royal family who can obtain the qualification to live and work in Sydney.
Foreign royal families with estranged relationships and blood ties, top foreign politicians and officials, top capitalists, etc. may also be eligible to live in this hotel.
Of course, theoretically speaking, scientific researchers who have made outstanding contributions in certain areas can also be qualified to live in this hotel.
But generally speaking, such talents will receive a very high standard of reception when they arrive in Australasia.
Especially after confirming to become Australasian nationality and working for Arthur, he will also get a villa and a car, as well as a higher salary, and the Royal Victoria Hotel does not seem to be too important.
In fact, from the name of Victoria Royal Hotel, we can roughly analyze the person behind this hotel.
This is one of the industries of the royal family consortium. Currently, the royal family consortium has built more than a dozen hotels in Australasia, Europe and the United States. These hotels can be roughly divided into three categories. One is the Royal Victoria Hotel that receives the top guests. The first category of large hotels is the Victoria Hotel, which caters to mid-range customers, and the last category is the Manor Hotel, which caters to mid- to low-end customers.
Take the top-notch Victoria Royal Hotel as an example. Any guest staying in the hotel can have a driver on call at any time.
Food is provided free of charge in the hotel, and a limited number of royal private wines from Duke Arthur Winery will be provided.
You know, nearly ten years have passed since Duke Arthur Winery was built. After these ten years of development, the red wine produced by the winery will occupy a large share of the European red wine market, and its reputation has already been established. .
After all, this is the private tribute red wine of the Australasian royal family. In Australasia, it is a treasure enjoyed by the royal family.
It would be fine if it was a mid- to low-end wine. The highest-end wine was supplied privately to the royal family. Apart from being given as a gift by the Australasian royal family, there are very few such red wines on the market.
Such a bottle of red wine usually costs hundreds or even thousands of Australian dollars and is one of the first choices of many capitalists for entertaining guests and banquets.
Victoria Royal Hotel will provide royal private supplies to customers in limited quantities from time to time.
Although it costs money, after all, this is a good thing that has a price but no market, and many people are willing to pay a high price to taste it.
(End of chapter)